Johnny Van Zant sees Lynyrd Skynyrd as Alabama ambassadors (Q&A)

View full sizeJohnny Van Zant leads Lynyrd Skynyrd during a performance entertaining the over 4,000 attendees in the new steel production storage building at ThyssenKrupp's grand opening event Friday, Dec 10, 2010, in Calvert, Ala. (Press-Register/John David Mercer)

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama -- Classic rock legends Lynyrd Skynyrd, a band near and dear to the hearts of many music fans in the area, will close out the inaugural season of concerts at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater tonight in a co-headlining show with ZZ Top.

Skynyrd lead singer Johnny Van Zant has served as frontman since 1987, when the band reformed for a tribute tour ten years after a plane crash claimed the lives of three band members, including Johnny's brother and original lead singer Ronnie Van Zant.

Since that time, the band has gone through a series of lineup changes and seen original members leave the fold, but the band continues to tour around the world and record. After finishing up their "Rebels and Bandoleros" tour with ZZ Top and doing a festival show in Brazil, Skynyrd will go into the studio to put the finishing touches on their new album, a follow-up to 2009 release "God and Guns."

Tickets for tonight's show are $28.50-108.50 and are available via Ticketmaster or at the amphitheater box office.

Van Zant talked to us about the band's connection to Alabama, the personal stances expressed in Skynyrd's music and his personal feelings about leading the band his brother and friends started more than 45 years ago.

Chris Pow: Lynyrd Skynyrd's music, especially, "Sweet Home Alabama," means a lot to people in this state. How would you describe the feeling when you get the opportunity to sing that song in front of a "home crowd," with the Roll Tides thrown in?Johnny Van Zant: We've been ambassadors to Alabama for many, many years with "Sweet Home" and going around playing it all over the world. I'll tell you, one of the times that the song stuck out, we were in Helsinki, Finland years ago and we went into it and I never heard people singing "Alabama" back to us that loud, including playing in Alabama. I was like, "Wow, man, they've really been waiting to hear this song for a long, long time." It's a great song, and we've always loved Alabama the state and the people of Alabama, so it's just been a great thing for the Lynyrd Skynyrd band, too.

CP: This show is a part of the Rebels & Bandoleros Tour, which has Skynyrd co-headlining with ZZ Top. How has it been sharing the stage with fellow Rock & Roll Hall of Famers?

JVZ: I think for your buck -- because times are tough right now -- I think it's a great show for the buck. People are having hard times, for us to team up together and pull a show out, I think it's great for the fans, first of all. Second of all, us and ZZ have been friends for years. We actually did some shows earlier this year. For us, it's a friendship thing, too, to be out on the road with those guys and it's always a good time. A lot of the times you go out on the road with people and you're not quite as friends, but us and ZZ have been friends for years and for us to get to go out and do this is a great honor.

CP: The band's 2009 album "God & Guns" touched on some concerns about the direction of the country. With Skynyrd planning on going to go back into the studio, do you think those kinds of issues will be raised in the new songs?

JVZ: I think, man. You know, we've always written songs about what's going on in the particular time. So surely we'll touch on different things. We got a lot of flak from people about guns and God, and we actually even thought about it, but that's what this country was founded on: religion and being able to protect ourselves. Surely, we don't say that every knucklehead should have a gun. But for us, a lot of us, myself and (Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist) Rickey Medlocke, collect old antiques -- guns, pistols, things like that. We believe that in this country you should be able to go hunting, you should be able to protect your family, and surely we believe in God, so that's what that album was all about. We stated what we know and I'm sure we'll touch on something, especially it being an election year. We're actually in the studio now recording the new record.

CP: The controversy surrounding Hank Williams Jr. is still sorting itself out but what are your thoughts on that situation?

JVZ: I know Hank, we've done shows with Hank and Hank's a great American. Surely he didn't mean to offend people. He's just being Hank. Hey, he's just speaking his mind, and for me personally, I love Hank. I love what he stands for. I don't think he would ever intentionally try to insult our President. He's a great American.

CP: Lynyrd Skynyrd BBQ & Beer is a restaurant and nightclub that will open in the Las Vegas Excalibur Hotel & Casino in December. You and the other band members took a tour of the place last month. What's the story behind it, and how is it coming along?

JVZ: It's coming along good, man. We're actually doing a grand opening Dec. 7-8, I believe it is. We'll be out there, and we'll be playing a few songs and meeting and greeting people. My whole thing is that the food's got to be good. It's basically a restaurant and it turns into a nightclub the later it gets so kids can come in during the day. There will be different memorabilia of the band up in it. We're looking forward to it. It's something we that we've talked about for years and to be able to have it at the Excalibur is a pretty cool thing, too, because it's all connected to the Luxor and Mandalay Bay, so there should be a lot of traffic through there, people getting to check it out. It's going to be a cool venture.

CP: An Alabama band called the Drive-By Truckers made an album called "Southern Rock Opera," which contains a series of songs about the band in its early years up until the 1977 plane crash. I was wondering if you've listened to or if you're familiar with the band, and if so, what are your impressions of it?

JVZ: Sure, those guys have played with us before. I think they're a talented bunch of guys and we're behind them 110 percent. I'm not sure what they're up to right now, but at the time they came out with that, we were all very interested in what it was all about and checked it out, for sure.

CP: You've discussed the importance of carrying on the legacy of Lynyrd Skynyrd when recording and performing under that name. What does the legacy of the band mean to you?

JVZ: Well, my brother started it, along with Gary Rossington and Allen Collins. Hey, I was a Lynyrd Skynyrd fan before I was ever approached to do a tribute tour back in '87, '86. For me, I never wanted to do anything to hurt the name of Lynyrd Skynyrd, it was already an icon to me at that time. For me to carry it on all these years and be out there playing the songs... I love my brother, I love what he stood for, I love how he wrote songs, without saying. The words and the meanings of the songs have helped out a lot of people. We've had people come up and say "'Free Bird' was played at my father's funeral," or "'Free Bird' was our graduation song," and "We love 'Sweet Home Alabama.'" And "That Smell" and "Simple Man" and great songs that you can never repeat or try to repeat, so we've never tried to write something like it. We just write from the heart. They always say the music's bigger than anybody that's ever been in the band, and I think to this day that stands true. One thing about playing music is writing stuff that will live on forever. And my brother will love on forever through this music, and the members who have gone on.